


The Picture

by burkygirl



Series: The Picture Series [1]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Tumblr: promptsinpanem, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 01:45:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5028913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burkygirl/pseuds/burkygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He shouldn’t have said it. Wouldn’t have said if he’d been sober. Known he was in trouble the minute the words slipped out of his mouth. -- Peeta's drunken mistake has torn Everlark apart. Inspired by Should've Gone to Bed by the Plain White T's.  Written for Prompts in Panem -- Round 8: The Farewell Tour. Epilogue written for Prompts in Panem - the Final Tribute.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Peeta spun his empty glass in the ring of condensation forming on the tabletop and contemplated ordering another Jack and Coke from the bar. If it wasn’t Finnick’s big night, he wouldn’t even be here, in this stupid bar of all places. He scanned the room, quickly locating his friend on the dance floor in the middle of a crowd of girls, flashing his killer grin. His florescent orange t-shirt bearing the words FINNICK’S LAST FLING in white letters was glowing under the black light. Meanwhile, Peeta’s brother Ryan and Finnick’s childhood friends Gloss and Brutus, wearing BODYGUARD t-shirts made to match Finnick’s shirt, scouted the crowd for women who might not be as enamoured with Finnick as the others. Ry used to do that in college too, he thought. Hell, they both used to do that in college. Well, until he and Katniss finally got together.

Certain that Finnick wasn’t in a hurry to move on to their next stop on this pub crawl/bachelor party, Peeta moved toward the bar for that refill. He had a nice buzz on and needed to keep it if he was going to survive the night.

The smarmy voice of the deejay, Caesar Flickerman, rang out across the club. “All right ladies! Tonight, we have a very special guest. That’s right! The infamous Finnick Odair, an Arena legend, is back in the House!” The women surrounding Finnick screamed and the boys raised their glasses toward Finnick.

“Yeah!” Recognizing Ry’s voice, Peeta’s head swiveled. His vision blurred slightly and then he found his big brother draped around a rather voluptuous blonde, his beer raised in honour of their best friend.

“That’s right! That’s right! Finnick Odair is a condemned man, here for one last night of fun before that old ball and chain clamps around his ankle forever.” The crowd laughed and Peeta turned back to the bar to order his drink. “Now, our boy is on a quest to see how many kisses he can collect before he’s glued to the same pair of lips for the rest of his life. So, ladies, it is up to you to give this man a night to remember!” The women cheered and hooted. Rye whipped out his phone snapping shot after shot as each woman left her lipstick print somewhere on Finnick’s face.

“Jack and Coke,” Peeta told the grizzled bartender, hoping the guy didn’t recognize him.

The bartender glared at him with steely eyes. “You better not be drivin’,” he snarled. But he poured the drink anyway.

“Nah.” Peeta tossed his cash on the bar, lifted his glass and focused on bringing it to his lips. “We’ve rented a Hummer. A stretch. It’s waiting outside whenever Finn is ready to go.”

The bartender inclined his head toward the crowd of girls all waiting to say their final good-bye to the man of the hour. “I think he’s gonna be awhile.” He nodded to Peeta’s t-shirt. “He’s gonna be guarding you if you keep it up.”

Peeta looked down at his own BODYGUARD shirt and shrugged. “Whatever. The other boys’ve got him covered.”

The bartender looked out at the crowd again where Gloss and Brutus were playfully pretending to fend off the women and Ry acted out the role of paparazzo. He squinted. “What’s it say on the back?”

Peeta felt a goofy grin on his face as he turned around. His life might be a train wreck right now, but he was truly happy for his friends. “Annie’s Victory Tour,” he shouted over the din.

The bartender barked out a laugh and pulled a few draft for the frat boys who had bellied up to the bar. “She finally got him to propose, did she? She was in here last weekend with her girlfriends. Looked like it was her bachelorette. I wondered if they’d made it.”

So the bartender did remember them. “Finn said their party was last weekend,” Peeta acknowledged with a nod.

“I’d think you’d know that anyway. Your girl was with them,” the bartender added as he mixed cocktails for a group of women in tight skirts and spiky heels. They whispered to each other while they side-eyed Peeta.

Peeta didn’t notice the looks, too busy suffering from the usual knife in his chest that came along with any mention of Katniss. He shook his head and then held onto the bar until the dizziness that overtook him had passed. “She’s not… my girl. Not anymore.” He could feel his blood pounding in his ears. He’d had enough. This place. This party. It was just too much. He tossed back the Jack and Coke and pushed back from the bar. “I need sm’air.”

“Sounds like a good idea, Boy.”

“See ya ‘round, Haymitch.”

“Hey, Boy?” Peeta looked back at him over his shoulder. “Sweetheart was looking pretty miserable. Even for her, and that’s saying somethin’.”

Peeta nodded and staggered toward the door and out into the parking lot. He breathed deeply, trying to push the memories of Katniss out of his mind. Her voice. Her eyes. Her hands in his hair. Her body moving against his in the night. He leaned against the wall of the club, which pulsed along with the base, sending a vibration through his body. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. Midnight. That made it six weeks and three days since Katniss stormed out of his life. He hadn’t seen her since, but not a day went by that he didn’t wonder how she was doing. She wouldn’t answer her phone or his texts. After a few days of trying, he’d had to accept that she was gone.

He tilted head back until it touched the brick wall behind them and closed his eyes, swallowing. He shouldn’t have said it. Wouldn’t have said if he’d been sober. Known he was in trouble the minute the words slipped out of his mouth. The wedding was next week. They’d have to spend all day around each other. He should just call her apologize so they could put it behind them. Find a way to co-exist inside their crowd of friends. Before he could talk himself out of it, Peeta flipped to his contacts and touched the picture of her face and gazed at it when it filled the screen. There she was, rumpled and make-up free in their bed -- his bed, now. He touched the screen again and waited for her phone to go to voice mail, just like it always did.

“Hello?” Her sleep-filled voice drifted over the distance between them, bringing back memories of lazy mornings in his bed. Peeta opened his mouth but no words came out. “Hello? Who is this? Do you have any idea what time it is?” She was getting annoyed now. He could hear the scowl in her voice. He forced the words out.

“Katniss, don’t hang up. Please.”

There was a rustling on the other end of the line. Maybe she was sitting up? “Peeta? Why are you calling at this hour? Is everything OK?”

“Yeah. I mean no, but…” He cursed. “Never mind. There’s nothing to worry about.”

She sighed. “Then why are you calling?”

_Because I miss you. Because my life sucks without you in it._

“It’s just that, we’re out for Finn’s stag party and I got to thinking that we hadn’t spoken since… that night… and well, I just thought that we should talk before the wedding. So it wouldn’t be, you know, so awkward. At the wedding, I mean.”

“Peeta, you’re seriously calling me from Finnick’s stag party to talk about this? After the last conversation we had, did you really think another drunken chat would be good idea?”

“Katniss,” he pleaded. He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging slightly at the roots. “Please. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

The doors to the club opened and the guys poured out the door, laughing as Finn attempted to wipe the lipstick from his face and smeared it everywhere instead.

“You’re sorry.”

“Yeah, Katniss. I’m so, so sorry. I never should have said that.”

“Then you didn’t mean it?” Her voice trembled slightly.

“Peet!” He looked up. Ry was waving him over to the Hummer. “C’mon, man. Quit dicking around and get in the limo! Next stop, Finn’s gotta get the girls to buy him shots.”

He flipped his brother off and turned his attention back to the phone. “Katniss, I ...”

The line was already dead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated over whether to change the rating of this work due to some strong language and sexuality in this chapter (no actual sexy times), but I decided it wasn't enough to change the rating for the whole work. Ry and I apologize for his dirty mouth.

**Five years earlier**

Peeta put down the razor, and ran his hand over his chin as he checked in the mirror to make sure he hadn’t missed a spot. Deciding it would do, he reached for the hair paste.

“You ready yet, Dickhead?” Ry poked his head in the bathroom and sneered at him. “The girls are meeting us at 11, man, and you’re still primping.”

Peeta continued taming his blonde waves so they looked like a strategic mess rather than a severe case of bedhead. He glared at his brother in the mirror. “Fuck you, Ry. If it hadn’t taken you so long to de-uglify yourself, I’d already be out of here.” Ry cackled, flipped him off and disappeared.

Not for the first time, Peeta questioned whether it had been wise to move out of his dorm and into the apartment his brother shared with his friend, Finnick. Their last roommate, Gloss, had moved back to the west coast town where he and Finnick grew up after the three graduated with their business administration degrees last spring. Ry and Finn were attending law school and decided it would be easier to get a new roommate than give up an apartment they loved. Peeta had been their clear front runner and his mother had pushed hard for the move since it was cheaper than living on campus. Most of the time, he was glad he did.

Deciding he liked the way his blue button down looked over his white t-shirt, Peeta rolled up his sleeves and wandered into the apartment’s shared kitchen. He grabbed a beer out of the fridge. Finn snagged it, popped the top and took a long drink. Leaning back against the kitchen counter, Finn took another sip of the pilfered beer. “This one’s not cold enough for you, Peet. Better grab another one.”

Finn’s sea green eyes danced as he grinned impishly at Peeta, who laughed and did as he was told. “So, Annie and her roommates are meeting us at the club?”

Finnick grinned at the mention of his new girlfriend. After four years of playing the role of Panem University’s biggest playboy, Finnick was deeply in love with a shy undergrad. “They’re definitely coming. Why, Peet? You looking to take up the mantle for me?”

Ry snorted as he entered the room. “Hell no! That title is going to me. Baby Bro here’s not man enough for that job. He’s had a hard on for Katniss Everdeen since he was practically in diapers.” Ry stood up and closed the fridge door, already opening his beer. “Any girl he brings home is just for practice until he finally gets into Katniss’s pants.”

Peeta blushed to the tips of his ears. “Ry! You are such an asshole,” he blustered. This has to stop, he thought. His childhood crush on Katniss had always been a frequent target for his brothers’ teasing. He didn’t need it from Finn too.

“You’ll notice he doesn’t deny it,” Ry said with a smirk as he lifted his beer to his lips.

Finnick set his beer on the counter, leaning back on his arms. His grin spread from ear to ear. “Now this is getting interesting. Tell me more about this girl, Peet.”

“She’s just a girl from back home,” Peeta muttered, staring daggers at his brother.

Ry chortled. “Just a girl! Little Peeta came home from his first day of kindergarten and announced he was going to marry her. He hardly dated at all in high school. He was too busy mooning over Kaaa-t-niss.”

“Whoa! Peet, we’ve been friends for years. Why am I just hearing about this chick now?”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Peeta said with a shrug.

“Only ‘cause Peet here is too much of a pussy to talk to her,” Ry said with a snort.

Finnick threw his arm over Peeta’s shoulders and gave him a shake. “C’mon Ry, you can’t call a guy a pussy on his 21st birthday. It is your solemn duty as his older brother to take him out and get him trashed.”

Ry scoffed. “I got him drunk for the first time when he was 15.”

Peeta couldn’t help it. He grinned at the memory. They’d both taken a thrashing from their mother for that one. It had been totally worth it. “C’mon Ry. You didn’t buy me a birthday gift. At least buy me one drink.”

Ry crushed his beer can and belched. “One of these days, little brother, you’re going to learn that the best gifts in life are free.”

Finn laughed at Ry’s antics and slapped Peeta on the shoulder before reaching for his keys and his phone. “C’mon Peet. First round’s on me.”

OoOoOoO

The dance floor inside the Arena was swarming with students and locals moving to the frenetic beat of the music. The boys shoved their way through the crowd toward the bar.

“Haymitch!” Finnick shouted to the bartender over the cacophony. He threw his arm around Peeta again. “I need to buy my boy a beer! He’s finally legal!”

The bartender swung around slowly, pushing lank strands of salt and pepper hair from his face. Well used to under-aged students trying to pass themselves off as 21, he slowly surveyed Peeta, a sneer pasted on his lips. He grunted. “Produce the driver’s licence, Boy.”

Peeta slipped it out of his wallet and slid it across the bar. Haymitch chewed on the inside of his cheek as he examined it. He passed it back. “Happy Birthday, Kid. First one’s on the house. Next one’s on your brother,” he said with a nod to Ry.

“Haymitch! I’m one of your best customers,” Ry protested.

“You owe him one, Ry. Baby brother here has spent more nights drinking Coke and dragging your sorry, drunken ass out of here than I care to count,” scoffed the bartender, as he slid a cold one to Peeta, who grinned because it was true. He just didn’t realize that Haymitch had noticed.

Finnick checked his phone. “The girls have got a table in the back. Let’s go.” Within seconds, Finnick spotted Annie. She stood alone at a bar-height table, drawing Finn to her like a beacon calling out to a lost ship. Finnick navigated through the undulating sea of humanity and swept her into his arms, kissing her as though no one else in the room existed. Peeta and Ry were left to gape at them.

“Finn is just no fucking fun anymore,” grumbled Ry.

“Again? They’re always at it. Annie!” screamed a female voice from behind Peeta. “Get your tongue out of Finnick’s throat and introduce us!”

Annie pulled away from Finn slightly and turned her head. Finnick continued to ignore them and moved his lips to her neck. “Peeta, Ry, meet my roommates. Johanna and Katniss.”

_Katniss._

Wide-eyed, Peeta swung around to see two dark-haired women holding drinks. One had spikey hair with purple tips and wide-spaced brown eyes. The other face, he’d know anywhere. Saw it in his dreams almost every night. Silver eyes. Olive skin. Long, dark hair that was falling over her shoulders and down her back.

“So Annie said you two are brothers?” asked the spikey haired one, dragging his attention away from Katniss. Johanna, he thought.

“I’m Ry,” said his brother. “You must be Johanna. And you are every bit as hot as Finn said you’d be.”

Johanna gave him a sly grin. “I like you already. This is Katniss,” she said.

“Oh, we know Katniss,” said Ry, with a smirk. “She’s from Panem too. She and Peeta were in the same grade back home.”

Johanna’s gaze flicked speculatively between Peeta and Katniss before turning back to Ry. Neither of them had said a word. “Well, Gorgeous, they’re playing my song. What do you say?”

Ry tossed back his drink and slammed it down on the table. “I’m in. Let’s go.” Johanna headed into the crowd. Ry hissed in Peeta’s ear. “Happy Birthday, Peet. Here’s your chance. Now fucking _talk to her_.”

Peeta took a long pull on his beer and turned to Katniss, who was staring into her glass. “It’s good to see you,” he forced out. “It’s been a long time.”

“What?” she asked with a perplexed look.

He got closer and leaned toward her ear so that she could hear him over the pulsating bass. God. He was closer to her than he’d ever been in his life. Her hair smelled of lavender. He wanted to bury his face in it. Instead, he repeated himself.

Katniss nodded. “Yeah. You too.” She stirred her drink with her straw.

Peeta could have pulled his carefully coiffed hair in frustration. He wanted to punch his brother. No, he wanted to choke his brother. No, first punch him, then choke him. Ry and Finn had obviously known Katniss would be here tonight. And instead of a cozy pub, he’d picked a noisy club for his birthday celebration, not knowing it was his one chance to talk to his dream girl.

Peeta leaned in again. “So what are you studying?”

“Environmental science,” she called out over the music. “You?”

“Business. I’m a marketing major. And I’m doing a minor in fine art.”

She nodded. “That makes sense.”

It did? He wondered what she meant by that. “You look amazing tonight,” he said. And he meant it. The dress she wore clung to her subtle curves, but it was the colour that was the most striking. It started as a pale peach at her shoulders, the colour deepening gradually as it dipped in a V between her breasts and then flowed over her hips, finally ending mid-thigh in a deep orange. Peeta thought she looked like a sunset.

“Thanks,” she replied, and a slight pink blossomed on her cheeks.

A hand clapped Peeta’s shoulder. He turned to find Finnick grinning beside him. He passed Peeta another beer. “Here’s your birthday beer, Peet. Annie and I are heading out. There are two empty apartments going to waste.” Finnick waggled his eyebrows at Peeta before leaning down to whisper in his roommate’s ear. “Annie says Katniss has been nervous all week about seeing you again.”

Did _everyone_ know about this but him?

Finnick leaned over to Katniss. “See ya, Sugar.” He pecked her on the cheek and Peeta felt a stab of envy that reminded him of a tall, dark shadow that used to follow Katniss everywhere.

“So, how’s your boyfriend?”

Katniss gave him a puzzled scowl. “Boyfriend?”

The floor beneath Peeta’s feet turned to quicksand. “Yeah, that guy. He was always hanging around you. Uh, Gale?”

Katniss rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Gale? No. That would never work.” Peeta barely had time to process the news before she was staring intensely out at the dance floor. She rolled her eyes again. “Look,” she said, pointing out on the floor.

Peeta followed her gaze and saw his brother grinding against Katniss’s roommate. He shrugged and grinned. “That’s Ry for you.”

“Johanna too.”

They watched them in silence for a few moments. “They’re not bad, you know,” said Peeta.

Katniss scoffed. “There’s no skill in that. Anyone could do that.”

Peeta put his beer down on the table and bit down on his lip, speculating. “You think so?”

Katniss nodded and sipped her drink. Her hips moved in time to the music.

“Uh, Katniss, I don’t suppose you’d care to dance?”

She looked up at him, her lips wrapped around her straw. She nodded and put her empty glass down. Then, with a shy smile at him, Katniss started toward the dance floor, oblivious to the looks she was receiving from the other guys already out there. Before he could stop himself, he reached out, bringing his hand to the small of her back. She glanced at him over her shoulder and her eyes locked with his, the ghost of a smile still on her lips.

Ry gave him a wicked grin as they approached, and Johanna reached up to wrap her arm around his brother’s neck. “What do you know? Brainless is trying to have fun,” she mocked.

Katniss rolled her eyes as Peeta drew her into his arms, one hand at her waist and the other hand in hers. His heart raced. He had Katniss Everdeen in his arms. They began to sway to the music, Katniss drawing ever closer to Peeta. Soon, their legs were intertwined, their bodies pulsing in time with the music. Katniss raised her hands above her head, leaving Peeta to span her waist with his hands. He could feel himself responding to her closeness. Time to put some distance between them, he thought. He brought his lips to her ear. “You ready to show them how it’s done?”

Katniss drew back and smirked. “On the count of three.”

Peeta nodded, reaching up to take her hands back in his own. “The count of three. One.” He could see Ry over Katniss’s shoulder, watching them closely.

“Two.” Their cores pressed together and Peeta felt a flash of heat rush through him.

“Three!” He moved one hand to her shoulder and then raised the hand he held in his. Katniss turned gracefully under his arm and returned to him. He checked their position and then turned her again in the other direction, before whirling her back into his arms, her breasts pressed against his chest. Peeta could see her pulse pounding at her throat and knew she could feel his arousal. He froze, waiting for her to make the next move.

Katniss returned to moving her hips in time with the music. She wound her arms around his neck to bring her lips to his ear. “What are they doing now?” she asked.

Peeta glanced over at his brother who was staring at them with the same calculating expression Peeta used to see from the opposite side of the wrestling mat during their team practices in high school. “Ry’s just realized he’s being challenged,” he chuckled and turned them just in time for Katniss to see Ry step to Johanna’s side and spin her to face him. They watched as her roommate slithered down Ry’s body and back up again.

“Amateurs,” Katniss scoffed. She raised her chin and gazed boldly into Peeta’s eyes, raising her leg until her knee was level with Peeta’s hip. Grasping her thigh, he lowered his head, until their foreheads touched. Their eyes still locked, Peeta’s other hand slid up her back and into her hair. He bent her back into a low dip, her limber body bowing over his arm. Sweat glistened in the valley of her breasts. At the slightest pressure from him, she arched up to wrap her arms back around his neck still moving in time to the music. He could feel her smile against his throat, even as he lowered her leg to the floor and her hand slid down his chest.

She turned in his arms and pressed back against him. He brought his hands to her hips and rose to meet her. Her hands went to her hair, exposing the back of her neck. Peeta lowered his face to the graceful curve and breathed her in. Lost in the music and the spell they were weaving, his hands roamed from her hips to splay across her belly as he continued to grind against her. Katniss’s hands left her hair and slid down, along his bare forearms until her fingers were laced with his own. She laid her head back against his shoulder. Waves of fire coursed through him with every press of her soft bottom against his rigid cock. He was contemplating how he could put some space between them so that he could calm down when she stepped away from him slightly.

She gave him a knowing glance over her shoulder and then led him out of the bar and into the night.

As the door of the club closed behind them, Ry let loose a whoop of delight.


	3. Chapter 3

Peeta didn’t hear Ry’s cheer. He didn’t hear the door of the bar close behind him. He didn’t feel the chill in the night air. His senses were too filled with her. Her eyes, her scent, the softness of her hair, the sway of her hips as she led him away from the club. Now, a voice whispered inside him. It has to be now.

He stopped in his tracks, holding fast to her hand. When Katniss turned to look at him, her brow furrowed in confusion, he pulled her close until there was no space left between them. Watching her closely, Peeta traced her bottom lip with his thumb. Her lips parted slightly. Framing her face in his hands, he lowered his mouth to hers. Heat blasted through him like he’d opened an oven door in his father’s bakery back home. His mind reeled as he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue alongside hers. Katniss gasped and fisted the front of his t-shirt in her hands.

This, he thought. Nothing he’d ever experienced had felt like this. He was drowning and she was the air he needed to survive.

Peeta backed them up slowly until she was pinned against the concrete wall of the Arena. The building hummed with the power of the music inside. He grasped her hips to hold her close while Katniss tangled her hands in his hair. He lifted his lips from hers, laved his way along her jaw, slipping down her neck to her clavicle. Katniss’s sigh of delight sent another charge through him. His lips travelled down the neckline of her dress, even as hers roamed beneath his button down, slipping under his t-shirt and skimming across his back. “Do you want to get out of here?” she whispered.

He froze, her words bringing him back to himself. All the Peetas from every adolescent fantasy he’d ever woven about himself and Katniss Everdeen were fist bumping each other. But running off with her right now wasn’t likely to get him what he wanted. A chance. A genuine chance at something real with Katniss. With a silent apology to his teenage self, he shook his head to clear it. “I’m probably going to be kicking my own ass in the morning, but I think we need to slow down a little.”

Katniss scowled at him and tried to push him away. “What the hell kind of game are you playing, Peeta?” she hissed. “I thought you wanted this too.”

He pressed her back into the wall again, his hard length burrowing into her belly. “Fuck, Katniss.” His voice was rough, he noticed, and tried to gentle his tone. “Does this feel like I don’t want you?”

Katniss’s scowl morphed into a perplexed frown. Peeta sighed and tried to figure out how to explain himself. He brushed her cheek with his knuckles, and raised her chin so she would look up at him. “I like you Katniss, okay? I have for a really long time. I’ve always thought we could be good together. And as much as I want to take you home right now,” he whispered, his hand drifting from her chin to the side of her breast and down to her hips, “Really, really want to take you home, I’m afraid we might wreck whatever is starting here.”

Katniss bit her lip as she toyed with a button on the front of his shirt. “How do you know we’d wreck it?”

“I don’t,” he said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “But I’d rather not risk it.”

“So what now?”

Peeta stepped back, offered her a shy smile and his hand. “Let me walk you home?”

Katniss blew out a long breath, nodded and then took Peeta’s hand in hers. They strolled in silence for a while, trading glances at each other, their clasped hands swaying between them. Finally, Peeta could stand the silence no longer. “So, when we were talking earlier, you said that it made sense for me to study art. What did you mean?”

Katniss shrugged. “You’re an amazing artist, Peeta. You always have been.”

He looked at her in surprise. “What makes you say that?”

She stopped and turned to face him. “The picture,” she said, as though that explained everything.

His brow furrowed. “The picture?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God. You totally changed my life and you don’t even remember. The picture.”

Peeta was completely bewildered. “What are you talking about?”

Katniss started walking again. “After my dad died, things were really bad at home for a while.” Now _that_ , he remembered. They’d been about 12 years old when her father died in an accident on the construction site where he worked.

“My mother fell apart when Dad died. She laid in bed for days on end. She wouldn’t get up and go to work and so she lost her job at the hospital. I had to take care of my little sister, Prim. I had to take care of the house. But I was only 12. It wasn’t like I could go out and get a job. I pawned everything we had that was worth anything. I stretched the money as far as I could, but eventually, it started to run out.”

Peeta recalled his frustration and helplessness as he watched while she grew sadder, thinner and frailer with each passing day. “Where was your family? Why didn’t they help?”

“My dad was an only child. His parents are dead. My mother’s disowned her when she married my dad.”

They crested a hill and a small park came into view. It wasn’t much. A few scrubby bushes and a couple of park benches where parents could sit and watch their kids on the swings. Nevertheless, Katniss tugged his hand and led him toward it. They settled on a park bench, his arm stretched out behind her along the backrest. Katniss sighed and looked up at the night sky.

“It was the worst time of my life. I sold everything we had that wasn’t nailed down, even Prim’s baby clothes. Finally, the day came where the fridge was completely empty and we had nothing left to sell. I went out to my locker after school. I was hungry and exhausted and facing another night of Prim’s tears over her empty belly. I knew I’d run out of options. I had to call Child Services. I felt so alone. A complete and utter failure. But, when I got to my locker, a piece of paper was stuck in the door.” She looked at him meaningfully.

Suddenly, the day flashed before his eyes in technicolour. “Oh, that picture,” he said. Katniss’s misery had been plain for all to see that day. He’d been desperate to cheer her up and instead of doing his math assignment, Peeta had pulled out his sketchbook and pencils. He’d drawn her a meadow filled with dandelions.

“Katniss, it was just a little sketch. It was no big deal.”

She turned to face him. “It meant everything to me, Peeta. Everything. I had convinced myself that the only person left in the world who cared about me was my little sister and I’d decided to give her up because there was nothing else I could do for her. Your picture gave me hope. I wasn’t alone. Someone was paying attention. Someone wanted to help. And that’s when I remembered my Aunt Effie.”

“Hey, I thought you didn’t have any family?”

“Aunt Effie was my mom’s friend from college. After Dad died, she said that if we needed anything, we should call. I think she had a feeling something wasn’t right. Anyway, I called her as soon as I got home.”

Katniss, who had been stoic as she’d told her tale, sniffed and looked back up at the stars. “She came right over, took one look in the fridge and ordered the biggest pizza I’d ever seen.” She swiped away a tear laughed ruefully. “Look at me, crying over pizza.” A shaky sigh crossed her lips. “Anyway, Prim and I sat on the floor in our empty living room and ate until we couldn’t move. When we were full, Effie loaded my mother in the car and escorted her to the hospital. Then she took us to stay with her until Mom got better. We were there almost a year. She fed us. She bought us new clothes. She lectured us about our manners and sent us to dance lessons. And when Mom was better, she moved us home, but she never, ever lost contact.”

Peeta kissed the top of her head and was mulling over her story in silence, wondering whether he could have smuggled bread out of his father’s bakery for her, when something occurred to him. “Katniss? I didn’t sign that picture. How did you know it was me?”

“I looked all around when I opened it, Peeta. You were watching me. Then I remembered that you’d been drawing in class because our math teacher, Ms. Coin, gave you detention for it.”

He shrugged. “It was worth it, to see you smile.” She kissed him then, just once, on the lips.

“Anyway, someday you’re going to be a famous artist and I’ll be able to say I have an original Peeta Mellark from his early pencil-crayon period.”

He looked down at her in amazement. “You still have it?”

“Peeta, I framed it.”

OoOoOoO

They sat on the bench for hours, kissing and talking. They shared the “deep stuff” like favourite colours and favourite music. Peeta entertained her with tales of working in the bakery with his brothers. She told him about Prim’s misadventures with the sick animals her little sister would drag home to nurse back to life.

“She brought home a goat, Peeta! We lived in an apartment building!”

When the sun came up, Peeta made good on his promise to walk her home. On the front stoop of her apartment building, he wrapped her in his arms and leaned down until their foreheads touched.

“When can I see you again?”

Katniss bit her lip and shrugged. “I don’t usually go out much. Ever, really. I’m a scholarship student, so I study a lot.”

He kissed her brow. “What brought you out tonight?”

Katniss blushed burrowed her head under his chin. “Annie said it was your birthday, that it would be fun,” she explained before rushing on, “and she kind of hinted that maybe you liked me and I needed to know if it was true.”

Peeta rubbed slow circles into her back. “Why?” His voice came out in a croak.

Katniss raised herself on her tiptoes and kissed him softly before wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down to her. The heat Peeta remembered from the club flared between them as the kiss grew ever bolder, and Katniss’s fingers threaded through his hair. Peeta raised her off the ground and opened his eyes to her smiling face hovering above him. “That’s why,” she said.

Peeta set her down gently and passed her his phone. “Put your number in there and I’ll text you tonight, okay?” Katniss did as she was bid and passed him back his phone. Peeta tapped her out a quick message and heard her phone buzz. “Now you’ve got mine.”

She nodded and yawned. “I really need to get some sleep. I’ll talk to you later.” She kissed him one last time and then turned to walk inside.

Peeta stood in front of the building with his hands in his pockets until the door closed behind her. He had barely started down the street when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and gave it a swipe.

Peeta grinned when he saw the thread.

**Peeta:** Dinner tonight? Please?

**Katniss:** I’ve got Netflix. Bring pizza.  <3

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Three years ago**

Peeta was a nervous wreck. He’d avoided this moment for as long as he could. The first year had been easy. They’d been too new. There was no way he could expose Katniss to his mother that soon. It was easier just to pretend to his mother that he wasn’t sure where their relationship was going.

It had been a lie, of course. Peeta knew exactly where he was headed with Katniss. He had almost from the very start: into an apartment the minute they graduated, and down the aisle as soon as she’d have him. But there was no more getting away from it. They’d been together for two years. He and Katniss were receiving their undergraduate degrees in a few weeks. Ry and Finn were getting their law degrees. His oldest brother Brandon’s wedding to the Mayor’s daughter, Madge Undersee, was coming up not long after that. Peeta’s girlfriend would be expected to put in an appearance at all three events. But first, they needed to survive this dinner.

Ry straightened his dinner jacket as he entered the kitchen. “You all set?” he asked, reaching for his keys.

Peeta clenched his jaw and nodded. Ry clapped him on the shoulder. “Katniss is a big girl. She’ll handle it, Peet. And if Mother acts like too much of a bitch, we’ll deal with it.” Ry grinned at him and winked. “I’ll give her the big news about accepting the job in the public defender’s office.”

They picked Katniss up on the way to the restaurant. She looked lovely in a black A-line dress and a single pearl on a simple chain that Peeta gave her their first Christmas together. Her hair was up in an intricate braid, but it was fingers that were tied into knots. Peeta raised them to his lips. “You look beautiful. Nervous?”

“I feel like the stakes are really high tonight. You met my family a long time ago.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek and then helped her into her coat. “That’s because your family is lovely and they’re important to you. Mine, well, other than Ry, I don’t care what they think.”

Katniss frowned. “Well, let’s get it over with then.”

Peeta’s parents, Brandon and his fiancé were already at the restaurant when they arrived. Peeta’s father jumped up from his chair, welcoming them with open arms. Brandon slapped his brothers on the back and shook Katniss’s hand kindly, introducing them to Madge. His mother sat at the table, her hands folded in her lap waiting to be acknowledged.

“Mother,” said Peeta, bending down to kiss his mother’s cheek. “This is Katniss.”

Lyla Mellark assessed Katniss coolly, her lips pursed. She nodded. “Good evening.”

Peeta watched Katniss’s eyes turn to ice even as she pasted a fake smile on her face. “Mrs. Mellark, lovely to meet you.”

OoOoOoO

The meal was excellent, Peeta thought, even if he hadn’t been able to enjoy a bite of it. His mother had spent the entire evening talking about Brandon and Madge’s wedding; rhapsodizing about the invitations and the venue. She praised Brandon for his latest promotion at his law office and oozed about a recent charity event that Madge had organized on her father’s behalf. It was, Peeta thought, the greatest display of her social climbing nature that he’d ever seen. And while Peeta could tell that his oldest brother and the bride-to-be were embarrassed by his mother’s behaviour, he could at least be thankful that his mother hadn’t yet started on her usual litany about his shortcomings.

“Oh, Peeta,” his mother said, drawing him out of his reverie. “I forgot to tell you that I saw Delly Cartwright at Madge’s event the other day. She asked about you and said to say hello.”

He resisted the urge to shake his head. His mother and Delly’s mother had been trying to throw them together since they could walk. Neither was interested. “That’s nice, Mom. How’s Delly?”

“Oh, Peeta, she looks stunning. You really should look her up sometime.”

Peeta watched Katniss take a slow slip from her water glass. He nodded. “Katniss and I will have to give her a call sometime. We’ll be busy for a while yet, settling into the new apartment and starting our jobs, but a party for all our friends would be a good idea.”

“Brothers too, right?” grinned Ry. He’d been into Delly since puberty had transformed her from a plump little girl into a curvaceous woman. “You owe me one, Peet.”

“That I do,” said Peeta, clinking his glass against Ry’s.

“Speaking of the job, Peeta,” said Lyla, interrupting the camaraderie, “Are you certain you aren’t interested in law school? It seems like such a waste for you to be spending your time doodling the day away in the bowels of some advertising firm.” She turned up her nose in distaste.

Katniss put her fork down and clenched her jaw.

“Mrs. Mellark,” she said firmly. “Peeta happens to be an exceptionally talented artist and Heavensbee and Associates is one of the best marketing companies on the East Coast. My Aunt Effie says that the mere fact they were willing to let him in the door for an interview is a testament to his skill, let alone making the decision to hire him.”

When Lyla Mellark’s eyes zeroed in on Katniss, Peeta had to supress the urge to tell her to duck. “And who, pray tell, is your Aunt Effie?” she asked through tight lips.

“A family friend,” said Katniss, “and the owner of the top PR firm in Panem. Effie Trinket. Have you heard of her?”

Lyla’s eyebrow quirked. Of course a woman like his mother had heard of Effie Trinket. Effie was a powerful woman in Panem. Her bubbly personality and take-no-prisoners attitude made her a fixture at the parties and high society events his mother was dying to attend. Of course, Katniss didn’t care a lick about Effie’s reputation, but she was smart enough to know that his mother would. Peeta watched her try to fit this latest piece of information into her evaluation of Katniss’s worth.

“I see,” Lyla said, dropping the matter entirely. “Tell me, Katniss, what are your plans after graduation?”

“I’m joining an environmental engineering firm,” said Katniss. “It specializes in sustainable development projects. I’ll be joining a team of people working on the construction of a pharmaceutical plant here in Panem.”

“And your father has no concerns about you entering such a non-traditional field? It can’t be easy to be a female engineer.”

Katniss’s jaw twitched at Lyla’s latest attempt to deliberately provoke her. “No. My father would not be concerned, if he were alive. He always encouraged me to be, “non-traditional,” as you say. He even taught me to hunt with a bow and arrow.”

Peeta turned to his dad. “She’s an amazing shot. She can hit a squirrel right in the eye.”

His father looked impressed. “I haven’t had squirrel in years.”

“Thank goodness,” his mother said dismissively. She turned back to Katniss. “It must have been so hard on your mother,” she said, “to raise children alone. What does she do, dear?”

Peeta grasped Katniss’s hand under the table, trying desperately to communicate with her telepathically. _You don’t have to do this_. But Katniss soldiered on.

“My mother is a nurse by training. She was brilliant, but she’s been unwell since my father died.”

“I see,” said his mother. “Well, I guess we can be glad the state has programs to help such ‘unfortunate’ people.”

“Lyla,” admonished Peeta’s father.

Katniss wiped her mouth with her napkin and laid it on her plate. “I guess we all have our limitations, Mrs. Mellark. Some of us love too much. Others love too little.”

Unaccustomed to being put in her place, Lyla sat back in her chair, her eyes narrowed. Peeta looked over at Ry, who nodded and turned to their mother. “So, Mother. Did I tell you that I’m going to be a public defender?” Lyla gasped and began to shriek at Ry about “wasting their hard-earned money.”

Peeta leaned over to his father. “Dad, I think it’s time for us to go.” He rose and pulled out Katniss’s chair.

“Please, Peeta,” said his father, looking stressed.

“No, Dad. We’ve had enough. Good night everyone. We’ll get a cab home, Ry.”

Ry’s eyes were gleeful when looked up. “Not to worry, Peet. I’ll see you later.” He turned back to Lyla. “Now mother, ‘unfortunate’ people need adequate legal representation too.”

Three weeks later, Peeta’s invitation to Brandon and Madge’s wedding arrived. There was no “and guest” on the envelope. Ry suggested they appeal to Brandon and Madge. Peeta simply checked “will not attend” on his RSVP and sent his brother and new sister a nice gift.

 

**Seven weeks ago**

Peeta nursed another fresh beer, relaxing into the leather loveseat in Finnick’s man cave. Katniss was curled up against his side, a big bowl of popcorn between them. Annie sat on Finnick’s lap while they waited for Ry and Delly to arrive with the pizza. The Avengers battled to save New York on the big screen.

None of the gang were up for saving the world tonight. Finnick and Annie were entering the home stretch for the wedding. Ry and Finn were insanely busy at the new law firm they’d started about a year ago. Jo managed a nightclub and worked nights and weekends.

Katniss was busily working on a new housing development around the lake not far from where they’d grown up and was spending her waking hours muttering about walking trails, public access and protecting fish stocks. Peeta, having quickly risen through the ranks at Heavensbee and Associates, was now the lead designer on several of their highest profile accounts, all of which seemed to be launching a new product in the next month. He was exhausted.

Iron Man was flying across the screen when Peeta checked his beer. Empty again. They were going down a little more smoothly than usual tonight. He pulled another one out of the cooler beside him, leaving only one soldier behind.

A door slammed upstairs and before long Finnick and Annie’s new house was filled with the smell of cheese and pepperoni. Ry clattered down the stairs with the pizza. Delly was on his heels, their drinks in her cooler.

Ry threw himself onto the floor and opened up the pizza box, choosing the biggest slice and biting down. He moaned in ecstasy.

“Oh fuck. That is so good. We need more pizza and movie nights, guys. This running a law firm shit is hell on my social life.”

Delly gave him a withering stare. “Excuse me, but the last time I checked, I run the law firm. No one would get billed or paid if it weren’t for me. You and Finnick just stand around, looking good in your suits while you pontificate.”

“So, what you’re saying is, I’m hot. I’m good with that,” Ry retorted.

Finnick and Ry had quickly built reputations as two of the best defence attorneys in Panem and clients flocked to them in droves when they opened the doors of their new office. Within a few weeks of their partnership, they’d needed an office manager. At Peeta’s encouragement, Delly applied for the job and then she wowed them both in her interview. They hired her on the spot, much to Ry’s delight. It wasn’t long before their relationship progressed beyond business, but neither seemed to be in hurry to define it.

“So Annie, all ready for the wedding?” Delly chirped, desperate to change the subject.

Annie groaned and reached for a slice of pizza. “I can’t wait for it to be over.” She pointed at Peeta and Katniss. “When it’s your turn, don’t let anyone talk you into a big production. Just have a little wedding in your backyard and be done with it.”

Peeta felt Katniss freeze beside him. She’d told him more than once that she didn’t want to get married, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to be her husband. It hadn’t stopped him from buying a ring either.

“We’re not in a hurry, Annie,” he lied, taking a healthy swallow of his beer. “We’re basically married now. A piece of paper wouldn’t make that much difference. Katniss shifted uncomfortably beside him and Peeta rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

“Please, please let me be in the room when you tell Mother that you and Katniss got married,” Ry begged and Peeta laughed mirthlessly. “No! Better!” his brother effused. “Let me perform the ceremony. That would be awesome. Then I can be partly responsible when she finally pops her cork.”

Peeta’s head swam when he shook it. Definitely time to put some food in his stomach. “There’s no way I’d leave you in charge of our wedding Ry.”

Ry cleared his throat. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join my idiot brother in marriage to the beautiful woman who is fool enough to sleep with him. God knows why. I sure as hell don’t.”

Finnick, Annie and Delly burst into laughter. Peeta stood up to get a slice of pizza and the room tilted dangerously.

Katniss stood up quickly. “Okay, Peeta. You need some fresh air. We’ll be right back.”

She led him out of the basement to Finnick and Annie’s back deck where the twinkle lights strung through the trees gave off a romantic glow.

Peeta flopped into a deck chair. “It’s beautiful out here, isn’t it? We should buy a house, Katniss. I want a really great kitchen. Then I’ll bake you cheese buns every weekend.”

Katniss sat in front of him and combed his bangs with her fingers. “You already bake me cheese buns every weekend. We don’t need a whole house for that, Peeta. It’s just the two of us.”

“Yeah, but we need more room. For the kids!”

She shook her head, an amused smile passing over her lips. “Peeta. We don’t have kids. We’re not even married.”

That was an easy problem to solve. “Then let’s get married.”

Katniss’s smile faltered. “Peeta, you’re drunk.”

“No, well, a little. But that’s not the point. Let’s just do it. Let’s get married. We can get a licence tomorrow and Ry can marry us by the weekend. We can do it here. It’s really pretty back here.”

“Peeta, please. You need to stop this.”

He should do this right, he thought, and got out of his chair to kneel before his girl. “Katniss Everdeen, will you marry me?”                                             

Katniss scowled. “It’s all a big joke to you, isn’t it?”

He sat back on his heels. “What?”

“I never would have expected this of you, Peeta. Why would you make a joke out of something so important?” She pushed her chair away from him and Peeta scrambled to his feet.

“Katniss, it’s not a joke. I love you. I want to marry you. I always have.”

He reached for her and she slapped his hands away. “Sure,” she sneered. “That’s why you’ve waited five years and had to get drunk to ask me.”

Peeta wanted to scream in frustration. “Katniss! You are constantly telling me that you don’t want to get married. I haven’t asked because I thought you’d say no.”

“Well, you were right. I’m saying no. Go inside, Peeta. I’m going home.” Katniss stormed around the corner of the house. Her car roared to life and peeled down the street.

When Peeta got home an hour later, Katniss’s half of the closet was empty.


	5. Chapter5

**Present Day**

1202.

Double-checking his phone, Peeta confirmed this was the room number that Finnick texted to him. He rapped on the door and held his breath, praying that she wouldn’t look through the peephole and refuse to open it.

He heard a soft curse behind the door and guessed that she had, in fact, checked to see who was there. When she made no move to answer it, he called her name.

“I know you’re in there.”

“Go away, Peeta.”

“Katniss, you can open this door, or I’ll say what I came to say out here and the entire hotel can hear it. Your choice.”

He heard another curse, followed by the chain rattling in the door and it swung open. He was greeted by the back of Katniss’s head as she moved farther into the room. She stood next to her bed, her arms folded and a scowl painted on her face.

Damn. He’d missed her. Even the scowl.

“Say what you’ve got to say, Peeta, and then get out. I still have to get dressed for the rehearsal dinner.”

“I miss you,” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Her scowl deepened and she stared at the floor.

“Katniss, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I wasn’t thinking that night. It just… I don’t know. It just came out.”

“You’ve said that before,” she said flatly, before sitting down on the bed. He took it as an invitation to move closer and crouched down so that he could see her face. She was thin, he noticed, and had dark circles under her eyes.

“Katniss, I love you. I always have, I probably always will. And, if you’re done with me, well, I’ll have to accept that somehow. But two of our very best friends are getting married tomorrow and we have to find a way to get through it. I have to escort you out of the church and sit with you at the head table. We’ll probably have to dance together. The photographer will need to take about a thousand pictures and we’re going to have to smile. So please, please talk to me.”

Katniss sniffled and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I said I wasn’t going to do this anymore. I’m done with crying over this, Peeta.”

Peeta reached up and with his thumb and flicked away a tear that was threatening to fall. “Well, that makes one of us.”

Katniss ran her hands over her face and then sank them into her hair. She closed her eyes for a second, gathering herself and then rose, straightening her shirt. “We’ll get through tomorrow, Peeta. It will be fine. We have to, for Finn and Annie.” She went to the window and parted the curtain.

Peeta frowned and stood up. “So what, we’re going to pretend for the cameras? And when people ask when it’s going to be our turn, what are we going to say then?”

Katniss leaned against the glass and looked down at the street below. “I’m going to tell them that I don’t want to get married. I never have. After what happened to my mother when my father died… I could never let myself depend on another person like that.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Katniss.”

Katniss continued to stare out the window, saying nothing. Peeta crossed the floor, took her by the shoulder, and turned and look at him.

“I told you before that was why I waited so long to ask you. But if it wasn’t what you wanted, why the hell are you so mad at me for fucking it up?”

Katniss’s eyes flashed like daggers. “I was angry because you weren’t honest with me. And you still aren’t being honest with me. You didn’t ask because you were afraid of what your mother would think. And what you want, more than anything, is Mama’s approval!”

Peeta’s mind reeled at the implication. “You’re right,” he said softly. “I would like her to know you the way I do, to give you a chance. I would like her to approve. But it doesn’t matter what she thinks or what she wants.”

“Oh it does,” Katniss seethed. “It matters so much that you had to be drunk to propose to me. Drunk, at a party, with a crazy idea that your brother could marry us like I was some dirty little secret that we could just drop on your family. Because that would have done me a lot of favours, Peeta.”

Peeta held up his hands in defeat and backed toward the door. “I’ve already told you I regret that, Katniss. It seemed like a romantic, impulsive thing to do at the time. But I bought you a ring months ago. I carried it around, burning a hole in my pocket, trying to find a way to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me. We’ll go through the motions tonight and tomorrow. Smile and be done with it,” he said. “If you want to find me after that, you know where you used to live.”

Peeta opened the door and then turned to look at her one more time. Katniss was shaking, her arms wrapped around herself. “In the meantime, I think it’s time you stopped lying to yourself, Katniss. You might be afraid of marriage, but you wouldn’t be this angry if you hadn’t wantedme to ask you.” Peeta stepped out and slammed the door behind him. Taking a deep breath, he headed back to his room.

OoOoOoO

It had been a long day. He’d watched Katniss walk down the aisle in a strapless blue gown and ignored the way she paled when she saw him gazing at her. Instead he’d stared into her eyes and dared her not to think about what it would be like to walk down the aisle to him.

He’d offered her his elbow on their way out of the church, smiled for the photographer, sat beside her throughout the reception. He’d laughed as Ry and Johanna combined the best man and maid of honour speeches and teamed up to roast the happy couple. Thankfully, when it came time for the attendants to join the bride and groom on the dance floor, Ry had offered his hand to Katniss and Jo had pulled him out on the floor. They turned in a circle just out of the spotlight where Finn and Annie were staring into each other’s eyes.

“You holding up ok, Blondie?” Jo looked at him concerned.

“I’ll be all right, Jo,” he sighed. “The night’s almost over and then we can be done with all of it.”

“It sounds like you’re giving up. I expected more from you, Peeta.”

“I’ve been trying to convince her to come home for two months, Jo. She’s not going to change her mind.”

Johanna scoffed. “She’s been sleeping on my couch, Blondie. Brainless cries every night. She barely eats enough to keep herself alive. The dressmaker had to take in that dress she’s wearing – twice. Trust me, she wants to change her mind. You just need to give her a reason.”

Peeta shook his head. “I don’t know how I’m going to do that, Jo.”

“Peeta. It bothers her that your mother doesn’t think she’s good enough.”

“Jo, my mother isn’t fit to kiss her feet.”

Johanna’s eyebrows drew together. “Maybe I should be calling you Brainless. Have you told her that?

“Jo, I’ve told her a million times that I don’t care what my mother thinks, that I love her. That I have always loved her.”

Jo patted his cheek. “That’s not the same thing, Blondie. She told me that she’s holding you back from what you truly want.”

“She doesn’t hold me back, Jo. She makes me who I am. I don’t need anyone or anything else as long as we’re together.”

“Well, I think it’s past time you tell her that.”


	6. Chapter 6

Peeta straightened the drape over the finished canvas.

A month’s worth of work. Night after night he’d poured his heart into this painting, knowing with every brush stroke that this was very likely his last chance to convince Katniss that what they had was irreplaceable. Real.

He checked the clock. In an hour, he’d know if it was worth it.

He wandered into the kitchen and slipped the fresh cheese buns that were rising under a tea towel into the oven. He checked the clock again. There was just enough time for a shower before she got here.

Peeta was lifting the freshly baked rolls out of the oven when the doorbell rang. His blood pounded in his ears, but his hands were steady when he sat the pan on the counter and untied his apron. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. The bell rang again. This was it, he thought, as he headed to the door.

The Katniss standing on the other side of the door was not the same woman who’d walked out of it three months before. He could tell she still wasn’t sleeping. She’d lost more weight since the wedding too. He frowned. Why hadn’t his friends told him how much she’d failed in the last few weeks?

She was so thin that her silver eyes were like moons in her face. She was still the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. She bit her lip. “Hi.”

Peeta stood back and let her in, offering to take her coat, and then wanted to kick himself. As far as he was concerned, this was still her home, and here he was treating her like a guest. She passed him her father’s battered old brown hunting jacket and slipped off her boots.

“I was, ah, nervous this morning, so I made some of Dad’s cheese buns. You want one?” Katniss nodded and followed him into the kitchen. “The tea’s hot,” he told her, “if you want to grab a mug.”

Katniss agreed and turned to grab a mug out of the cupboard, reaching instinctively for her favourite. Peeta filled it with tea and she made herself comfortable on her usual stool at the island. He had to supress a smile. She didn’t even seem to be aware of what she was doing.

Katniss sipped her tea, staring at him over rim of her mug. Her eyes raked slowly up and down his body. It sent a shiver up his spine. “You’re looking well, Peeta.”

_I’m a fucking mess, that’s what I am._ The thought rushed through his mind like a bullet train speeding through the night. He had to clamp his lips tightly not to let it escape. Instead, he nodded. “Thanks. “

He put a couple of cheese buns onto a plate and slid them across the countertop to her. Katniss bit into one and sighed happily, just like she always did on lazy Saturdays before a few careless words had torn their lives apart.

It relaxed him, seeing her so at home in their home. He knew her feet were wrapped around the legs of the stool. Her knee was probably bobbing up and down. _Come home, Sweetheart_ , he thought. But, not wanting to break the spell just yet, he simply grinned at her and bit into his own flaky, cheese-filled roll.

Katniss sucked the grease off her fingers after the second roll disappeared as quickly as the first one. She rolled her eyes. “That was the best thing I’ve tasted in ages. Thank you.” She looked down into her mug of tea.

“Want some more?”

Katniss shook her head. “You said I forgot a couple of things.”

This was it. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Well, yeah. It’s in my studio. Come on back.”

They walked back to the bedroom at the end of the hall, Katniss moving silently beside him. She glanced quickly into their room and then averted her eyes.

The afternoon sun was casting its warm glow on the terracotta walls of Peeta’s studio. The space felt cozy and safe. The painting sat on his easel in the middle of the room, still covered.

Katniss looked around confused. “I didn’t have anything in here before. Have you been storing my stuff in the studio?”

Peeta shook his head and whipped off the white sheet to reveal the painting, a verdant meadow dotted with dandelions. Her picture, recreated in oil on canvas. “I’ve been wanting to paint this for you since you first told me about how important that little drawing was to you.” He bit his lip and dared to glance over at her. She was as still as a statue, her grey eyes glistening. “Anyway, I thought, no matter what has happened between us, you should have it.”

Katniss approached the painting bit by bit, her hand covering her mouth as she studied it, drinking in the myriad of greens, the flecks of yellow and white, the depths of the shadows between the trees, which seemed to have been designed by Mother Nature to lure the curious adventurer. Peeta chewed on the inside of his cheek while he tracked her eyes as they moved across the canvas, watching for any expression on her face that would indicate what was going through her mind.

She dropped her hand from her mouth and inhaled sharply. “Peeta?”

“I made a little addition to it.”

A young couple was standing near the woods. The blonde boy was lifting a slight, olive-skinned girl above his head while she beamed down into his face, her dark braid streaming down her back.

“You painted us into my meadow?”

Peeta gave her a sad smile and shrugged. “Well, you said this picture gave you hope. I wanted to add what gave me hope to it.” He grasped her hands in his own and prayed she wouldn’t pull away. “And that’s you, Katniss. You give me hope. You love me for who I am. You believe in me. I don’t need anything or anyone else as long as I have you.”

Katniss shook her head. “Peeta, your family hates me. Even if I wanted to get married…” Katniss broke off as her voice choked, then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before starting again. “Even if that was what I wanted, I can’t marry into a family that doesn’t think I’m good enough. And I won’t be responsible for keeping you apart for them any longer.”

“Katniss, you are my family. You. Ry and Delly, Annie and Finn, Jo. Even Brandon and Madge. Your mom and Prim -- you have no idea how much I’ve missed them.”

“Your parents…” Katniss’s jaw quivered and the tears that she’d been fighting to hold back finally spilled over. Peeta drew her into his arms and she buried her face in his shoulder. Peeta held her tightly, his heart aching. He pressed a kiss to her temple.

“I love my dad, but he has never been willing to stand up to my mother and call her on her shit. She’s a nasty bit of work, Katniss. She always has been. She always will be. I gave up trying to please her a long, long time ago. The loss is all hers.” Peeta lifted her chin so that she was gazing up at him. He wiped the tears from her eyes. “Please, Katniss. Please don’t let her destroy the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you so much. Always.”

Katniss heaved a shuddering sigh and then laid her head against his chest. “I love you too. I’ve missed you. Everything has just been so … empty without you.”

Peeta nodded in understanding as his hand slipped slowly down her braid. “Come home, Katniss.”

She lifted her head, a smile playing about her lips as she raised herself up on her toes to kiss him. Something flickered in his chest, and when her arms reached around his neck to pull him down to her, the little flame gave birth to a warmth that spread from his heart to the rest of his body. Peeta felt as though he’d been brought back to life. He was never going to let her go again.

Finally, he tore his lips from her own. “Is that a yes? You’re moving back in?”

She laughed. “It’s a yes to everything, Peeta.”

“Everything?” He was missing something. He just wasn’t sure what.

Katniss reached up and swept a wayward curl off his forehead. Her lips quirked up. “Have you still got that ring?”

OoOoOoO

Peeta was watching the setting sun from his spot in their bed when Katniss began to stir. A bare toe snaked up his calf. The arm around his waist squeezed him tightly and she nuzzled her face into his neck.

“I’ve missed this bed,” she mumbled into his pillow.

He reached down and brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckle just below her new engagement ring. “I’ve missed you – in this bed,” said Peeta.

Katniss stretched and pushed herself up on her elbow, smiling down at him. Her hair tumbled about her shoulders. He loved the way she looked when he was finished messing her up. It was still his favourite thing in the world. “Well, that’s what I meant,” she insisted. Katniss pressed her lips to his sternum and then flicked her gaze over their bed.

“It looks good up there.”

Peeta tilted his head so that he could see the painting where he’d hung it a few hours before, and then turned his attention back to Katniss, tracing a path with his finger along the column of her neck, over her naked shoulder and then down the side of her breast. “I won’t deny that I was planning on hanging it there.” He cleared his throat. “If you allowed it, of course.”

Katniss returned her attention to him. “I’ll allow it.” She walked her fingers through the dusting of fine, blonde hair between his pecs. The beams of light from the setting sun made the diamond on her finger sparkle. “Peeta?”

“Hmm?”

“What else did I forget?”

“I’m sorry?”

“When you texted me and asked me to come over, you said I’d forgotten a couple of things. What else did I forget?”

Peeta rolled over quickly, pulling her under him and settling between her legs. He cupped her cheeks in his hands. “Me, Katniss. I wanted you to come back and get me.”

_Fin_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! That’s the end. Thanks for all of the awesome feedback and encouragement. I don’t work with a beta, so all mistakes are mine. Thanks so much to misshoneywell for organizing PiP. There is so much amazing talent in this fandom and Prompts in Panem was such a fun and positive way to showcase it.


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This final chapter of The PIcture is written as a thank-you to all of you who made me feel so welcomed and appreciated after this story was published in the final round of PIP. So many of you asked me for more of this universe that after much deliberation on my PIP submission, I decided this one made the most sense. It was wonderful to visit this universe again.

Peeta stood in the window of the study and watched the girls in their bronze-coloured sheaths as they fussed with the flowers and did a last check of the garden behind the quaint craftsman house nestled at the end of a cul de sac. Well, technically Delly and Annie were fussing. Katniss’s Aunt Effie was gesturing broadly, as though she were directing traffic. Meanwhile, Johanna lounged in a chair near the pergola she and Aunt Effie had just finished draping with burlap and tulle. Jo’s gold heels lay in a jumble on the deep orange runner that lined the aisle between the chairs. It was the perfect colour to compliment the reds and golds that crowned the big thick maple and oak trees surrounding the property.

Soft female voices drifted down the stairs. He listened to doors opening and closing, quick steps and the rustle of satin as Katniss’s mother and sister helped his bride with her finishing touches. 

He checked his watch. The guests would be arriving any minute. 

A heavy hand clapped his shoulder. “You ready?” 

Peeta grinned at his brother and pulled him into a one-armed hug. “You have no idea how ready.”

“Just talked to Brandon. He and Madge are on their way.” Ry straightened Peeta’s lapel and pinned his little brother’s boutonniere onto a suit that matched his bride’s eyes. “You know,” said Ry, sounding surprisingly serious, “I would have done the ceremony.” 

Peeta stepped back and grinned. “There’s no way I’d leave you in charge of my wedding, Ry. Besides, you had to be my best man.” Over Ry’s shoulder, Peeta spotted Finnick entering the room. “I needed someone uglier than me to stand beside.”

“Fuck off,” Ry laughed. “Don’t think I won’t punch you on your wedding day.”

Finnick snorted and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You will not. Katniss scares you.”

Ry laughed harder. “She scares Peet too. Took him 14 years to make his move and even then we had to set them up.”

A sharp knock on the door jam interrupted Peeta as he was about to protest. Gale Hawthorne stood in the doorframe, long and lean in a grey suit that matched the ones worn by the other men. “Hey,” he said, pulling on the cuffs of his jacket. “Finnick, the guests are arriving. We gotta...” He jerked his chin toward the front door. 

“Thanks man,” called Peeta as Finnick strode to the door and Gale turned away. “Hey Gale?” The tall, dark-haired man turned on his heel. “Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to Katniss, and to me.”

Gale gave him a curt nod, made to leave, but then turned back with a wry smile. “And, dude, one time when we were growing up, this kid stole Prim’s lunch money. Catnip and I tracked the guy down. I planned to scare him and make him give back the money. But Catnip, she jumped him and broke his nose.” Gale grinned at the memory and shot Peeta a knowing smile. “So I wouldn’t mess with Peeta, Ry. She gets real protective of the people she loves. I’d hate to see your eyes blackened in all the wedding photos.”

They were all still laughing when the front door closed behind Gale and Finnick. 

“I never thought I’d see the day that guy would be in your wedding party, Peet.” 

Peeta shook his head. “Me either. If you had any idea how badly I envied that guy…”

Ry snorted. “I think I have some idea.”

Peeta shrugged. “Anyway, Katniss and I both felt that Delly should be in the wedding party. And she said that if my childhood friend was going to stand up with her, then maybe Gale could even things out on my side. Seemed fair. And it’s been good, you know, getting to know him a bit.”

The brothers stood side by side, their shoulders nearly filling the window, watching as the small crowd began to gather in the backyard. He heard the garden door that led into the kitchen open and close, and soon the house was filled with the sound of the girls and Effie giggling as they clattered inside for a last look at Katniss before the big event. 

Jo and Annie stopped in the door of the study, champagne flutes and a green bottle in their hands. Peeta doubted Katniss would be interested in drinking today of all days, but held his tongue. 

“Looking good, Blondie,” Jo quipped. Annie smiled indulgently and winked at Peeta.

“Thanks,” Peeta and Ry replied together, and laughed. 

Ry wrapped his arm around Peeta’s shoulders and Peeta did likewise. “Which of us did you mean, Jo?”

Jo gave them a saucy wink. “Wouldn’t you like to know? You know, Blondie, I’m kind of surprised you two didn’t wait until spring so you could have a wedding in a backyard filled with those weeds Brainless is so crazy about.”

Peeta shrugged. “We talked about it, but we didn’t want to wait that long. Six months was long enough.” 

“I’m not going to complain, seeing as Brainless is not sleeping on my couch anymore. Well, I’m off to ply her with alcohol and convince her to give me the phone number for that tall, dark tree she keeps insisting she never climbed.” 

“You do that, Jo,” Peeta said with a knowing grin. Katniss would be pleased to hand it over, he knew. She’d been hoping the wedding would spark Johanna’s interest in her reserved childhood friend. She was also smart enough to know Jo and Gale both had to believe it was their own idea. “You might have to work on her, though. She’ll be afraid you’ll chew him up and spit him out.”

Jo’s teeth flashed and her eyes sparked. “Only if he asks me to. Come on, Annie, we’ve got drinking to do. See you at the altar, boys.”  

Peeta watched Johanna and Annie head upstairs before turning back to the window. He’d just spotted Madge on Finnick’s arm, moving toward the front seats that had been reserved for family, when he heard the knock and turned to find his brother Brandon standing nervously in the doorway, a leather folder under his arm. 

“Hi,” Bran said softly. Peeta crossed the room with open arms and Bran met him halfway, crushing him in a hug so tight, it reminded Peeta of their backyard wrestling matches when they were kids. “Thank you.” Bran’s voice cracked with emotion as he let go. “Thank you for wanting me to be part of this. I know I haven’t always been…” Bran’s head shook regretfully. “It means a lot, Peeta.”

“You’re my brother,” Peeta replied simply. “We all deal with her in our own way. I never blamed you, Bran.”

Bran gave him a grateful nod and spread the contents of his folder out on the desk, slipping into lawyer mode. “Okay, here is your marriage licence. Thank you for dropping that off. I’ve filled out my part. You and Katniss and your witnesses will have to sign it after the vows. You said on the phone that you wrote your own?” Peeta nodded. “That’s fine. And you want to do an exchange of rings?”

Peeta had barely managed to confirm their plan when he was interrupted by a string of curses from Ry. “Peet, you didn’t!”

Leaving a bewildered Bran at the desk, Peeta rushed to the window. “I didn’t,” he confirmed, watching as his beaming father followed his mother and Finnick down the aisle to their seats. “Katniss did. She insisted she wouldn’t allow Mother to hold our failure to invite them to our wedding over our heads for the rest of our lives.” Even Finn’s charms hadn’t chased that pinched look off his mother’s face, he noted. 

“It will be alright, Ry,” Bran said. “Mother won’t want a scene that could make her look bad.”

“Peet, she’ll do her best to ruin your day,” Ry warned.

“Impossible,” said Peeta, repeating the words Katniss had said to him when she addressed the envelope to his parents. “No matter what happens today, Katniss and I are getting married. There’s nothing Mother can say or do that can ruin that.”

Ry’s rebuttal was cut off by Aunt Effie’s appearance in the doorway, urging them outside so the girls could line up. Soon, the brothers were standing at the end of the aisle, watching as Finnick seated Aunt Effie and Prim, followed by Gale escorting Mrs. Everdeen to her seat. Finnick and Gale took their places while Peeta scanned the 50 or so faces that were gathered in the garden. Prim waved excitedly to Peeta, and Katniss’s mother offered him an approving smile. He saw the Cartwrights, the Hawthornes, his boss, Plutarch Heavensbee and Heavensbee’s “partner” Fulvia Cardew. No one at the office was certain whether Fulvia was a partner in the financial sense, the biblical sense, or both, and neither of them seemed inclined to explain. He saw Katniss’s boss, Beetee Latier and his wife, Wiress. There were friends from work and mutual friends of theirs from high school and college. Finally, his eyes landed on his family. Madge offered him a reassuring smile and his father’s eyes were filled with pride at the sight of his three handsome sons standing together on such an important day. His mother’s expression, however, was closed. He was still fighting the familiar twinge of longing that had overcome him when the music started. Peeta refocused his attention on the door at the other end of the aisle, his dysfunctional family forgotten.

With her bouquet of sunflowers clutched in her hands, Delly moved toward them, all generous curves and smiles. Her golden curls fell about her shoulders and her bright blue eyes danced when they met Ry’s. Peeta felt his brother stand a little bit straighter as she approached, giving them an flirtatious wink as she passed them on her way to her position on Bran’s opposite side.

“I get to tap that,” Ry whispered in Peeta’s ear. 

“Don’t even. You are so gone over her you can’t even think straight,” Peeta murmured under his breath as he continued to watch the door. “Put a ring on that will ya? Finn and I will flip a coin over who gets to be best man.”

“I’m the best man,” Finn weighed in as Annie appeared in the door. “Because I had the good sense to marry  _ her _ as soon as she’d have me.”

Annie glided down the aisle with the serene elegance she brought to everything. Her green eyes locked with Finn’s and she gave him a soft smile as she passed by, undoubtedly reliving their own wedding almost a year ago. 

The air crackled with electricity when Jo entered the garden and sashayed forward. Her knowing smile stretched from ear to ear when she reached Peeta. “Well done, Blondie.” Peeta swallowed a laugh. “Get ready, here she comes.”

Peeta took a deep breath when Katniss emerged in the doorframe. The hair that framed her heart-shaped face had been swept back and pinned just below the crown of her head so that it fell in loose curls over her bare shoulders. The gown’s lace bodice was a creamy colour that made her skin glow. It hugged her slender form, falling into a dropped waist, where it flared out in a cloud of tulle, edged with the same scalloped lace that framed the sweetheart neck of the gown. A mantilla veil was anchored to a crown of pearls in her hair and trailed behind her. Pearls dripped from her ears and surrounded her neck, as though the man in the moon himself had wept tears of joy over her beauty when he laid his eyes upon her. Katniss stopped at the edge of the patio. Removing one hand from her bouquet of sunflowers, tiny globes of green chrysanthemums and amber calla lilies, she reached out to Peeta with a tremulous smile. 

Their friends and family sighed and cheered as he strode toward her, his heart pounding in his chest. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he told her as he offered her his arm. “More exquisite than any sunset.”

Katniss’s answering blush made her all the more lovely, and when Peeta turned to face their guests he saw that as promised, Aunt Effie had timed the start of the wedding perfectly. The setting sun was just above the trees and the sky was bathed in a rosy glow. 

The music changed, and Peeta escorted Katniss down the aisle to the new life they were building together, brick by brick, finally coming to a stop in front of his eldest brother. The crowd settled into their seats and Bran cleared his throat, glanced at Peeta and Katniss before turning his attention to the crowd. 

“Welcome everyone. It is an honour and a privilege to be here today to join my brother in marriage to the woman he’s loved since he first realized there was a difference between boys and girls. Peeta’s never-ending crush on Katniss was the worst kept secret in our house,” Bran paused as the crowd chuckled, “and Ry and I did our duty as older brothers and teased him mercilessly.” Peeta could only blush and look at his shoes as the laughter grew. Then Katniss gently laid her head on his shoulder and he relaxed. 

“A couple of days before Peeta’s twenty-first birthday, I got a call from Ry,” Bran continued. “He said he’d organized the best birthday present ever for Peeta and he wanted me to go out with them. I figured Ry had hired a stripper, so I declined.”

Everyone looked at Ry, who feigned shock and exclaimed, “Who, me? Never!” The laughter turned to a roar and Bran waited until everyone settled down. 

“Of course, now we know that was the night that Ry and Finnick orchestrated a night out with Finnick’s then-girlfriend, Annie, and her roommates, Johanna and Katniss. And I will forever regret that I wasn’t there to see the moment my baby brother realized the love of his life might have feelings for him too.” The crowd was silent now, hanging on to Bran’s every word. “But I am blessed to be able to be here today to join them in marriage. Now, Katniss and Peeta, I understand you’ve written your own vows?”

While the sun disappeared behind the trees, the couple nodded. Their guests whispered in admiration as twinkle lights began to fill the trees and shrubbery throughout garden. Katniss passed her bouquet to Jo and Peeta took both of her hands in his. 

Katniss licked her lips nervously before she tipped her chin to look him in the eyes. “Peeta, I’m not very good with words. You know that, so this will be short. But you should know that for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been my symbol of hope. Because of you, I know that things can be better, no matter the odds. You taught me that love wins, in spite of everything that tries to get in the way. Your love is the greatest gift I’ve ever been given. I promise to cherish you the way you deserve, to be your lover, your best friend and your faithful partner in life. I promise to remind you that you are precious to me; to be the one you can turn to, no matter what we’re facing. I will love you and stay with you. Always.”

Peeta wiped a tear from his eye and then took Katniss’s hand back in his own. “She says she’s not good with words and then she does that to me,” he said and the crowd joined him in laughter. Katniss gave him a watery smile. “Now my knees are wobbling.” Their guests tittered as Peeta grew serious and spoke the words that were on his heart. “Katniss, almost a year a year ago, I made a terrible mistake. I was in backyard kind of like this one. I got down on my knees and asked the woman I loved to marry me. She said no. Then she left me, and I was miserable.” 

Katniss’s eyes dropped from his to their clasped hands and he heard a whispered  _ me too _ pass through her lips. 

“But I deserved it. You see, I forgot something crucial that night. I forgot to tell you that you are the most important person in the world to me. Nothing I accomplish means anything if I don’t have you to share it with. We’ve built a wonderful life together, Katniss, filled with love and friends and family. But now I want to build our own family. I promise to wake up every morning and be grateful to have you beside me. I promise to to be your lover, your best friend and your faithful partner in life. I promise to remind you that you are precious to me; to be the one you can turn to, no matter what we’re facing. I will love you and stay with you. Always.”

Under Bran’s watchful gaze, the pair exchanged rings before moving to a small table to sign their licence. Once back at the pergola, Bran gave the crowd a large smile. “With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may now kiss.”

Peeta smiled down at his glowing bride and wondered if the happiness he felt inside was bursting from his pores. He wrapped an arm around Katniss’s waist and pulled her to him before reaching up to stroke her cheek. Katniss leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. Peeta gazed at her lovingly, desperately savouring a moment he’d waited for his entire life. He would wait as long again, if only he got to be with her. 

But Katniss, it seemed, had other ideas. She raised herself up on her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck and impatiently pulled him down into the kiss, her soft lips trapping his bottom lip between her own. The crowd cheered as they embraced with an ease that was born of the joy of the moment and the promise of a future together. Katniss dropped back on her heels and gave him a smile she usually saved for when they were alone. Laughter bubbled up inside him until it spilled over, then he gripped her hand in his.

“Together, Mrs. Mellark?”

Katniss accepted her bouquet back from Johanna with her free hand. “Together, Mr. Mellark,” she replied, the harmony of her laughter mixing with his made him giddy as he raised their joined hands above their head. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you for the first time, Katniss and Peeta Mellark!” Bran shouted.

_ Marry You _ floated through the air as they danced down the aisle, followed by their friends. 

It took no time at all for the servers and the wedding party to pile the chairs off to the side and whip the cover off a small bar set up off to the side. Jo stationed herself behind it, efficiently opening beers and pouring glasses of wine for the guests. Before long, she challenged Gale to some kind of bartending competition and the two were attempting to outdo each other with a speed and finesse that was completely entertaining to the guests. 

Music filled the air and the servers were moving through the exuberant crowd with trays of tapas when his parents finally approached them. In no time at all, Peeta found himself wrapped in one his father’s famous hugs. Even in a suit, the smell of yeast and sugar surrounded his dad. Peeta held on for as long as he could.

“Congratulations, Peeta. I wish you a happy life,” he whispered, before turning to Katniss and wrapping her in his arms. Peeta caught the surprise in his new wife’s eyes as she hugged his father back. It made him sad, in a way, to watch his dad with Katniss. His parents had badly wanted a daughter. Katniss had needed a father. They could have had a beautiful relationship if it hadn’t been for  _ her _ .

“Mother,” said Peeta, bending down to kiss her cheek. “Thank you for coming.”

“Peeta,” she said, and sniffed. “No meal, I see.”

“There was no place to do something like that for a crowd this size at the house,” he explained. “And we really wanted to do it here.”

His mother harrumphed. “I suppose it is sufficient if that is all you can afford.”

Peeta saw Katniss was still busy talking to his father and steeled himself to deal with his mother when Aunt Effie swooped in, embracing him in a cloud of perfume. 

“Peeta,” she gushed. “You and Katniss are to be congratulated. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony. Romantic, intimate and perfectly you. So much better than all of those gaudy, overdone affairs in hotel ballrooms.” 

Suddenly, Aunt Effie realized she had interrupted Peeta’s conversation with someone else and turned to his mother, holding out her hand. “Oh excuse me, I’m interrupting aren’t I? So very rude of me, my apologies. I guess I’m just excited. I’m Effie Trinket, Katniss’s honourary aunt.”

“Mine too now, I hope,” teased Peeta. 

“Oh Darling, of course I am,” Aunt Effie tittered while she pinched his cheek and then turned back to the other woman, extending her hand. “And you are?”

“Lyla Mellark,” his mother said smoothly. “Peeta’s mother.”

“Oh!” Effie exclaimed. “The woman who birthed three stunningly handsome men. You must be so proud of them. I don’t know your eldest son well, of course, but Ry and Peeta are just wonderful.”

“Yes, very,” Lyla replied. “Bran and Ry are both doing exceptionally well at their law firms-”

“And Peeta is just the talk of the town with his designs,” Effie trilled, turning her palms to the sky in ecstasy. “Honestly, Plutarch’s decision to appoint him director of design was long overdue…”

“What’s this? Director of design! Peeta!” Peeta’s father turned away from Katniss to hug his son again. “Well done, Son. When did this happen?”

Katniss slipped her arm through Peeta’s and laid her head on his shoulder. “About six months ago,” she said, her pride in him evident in her voice. She looked up at Peeta. “It was just around the time we bought the house, right?”

“About that, yes,” he answered, covering his hand with hers. 

“This is your house?” his father asked in awe. “You bought a house and we didn’t even know?”

“And it’s just the most adorable house I’ve ever seen,” gushed Aunt Effie again. “Anyway, my sweets, I need to go bend Plutarch’s ear about a project he’s working on that one of my clients is dying to be a part of.” She kissed Katniss on each of her cheeks before turning to Peeta and doing the same. “Hang in there, Darling,” she whispered in Peeta’s ear. 

“So nice to meet you both,” she said with a nod before teetering away on an impossibly high pair of heels. She got only a few steps away before she turned around again. “Oh, and Peeta, the tapas are delicious, and so  _ du jour _ . I’ve eaten more rubber chicken dinners than I care to count. That whole approach is so tired. Ta-ta my dears!”  

As soon as Effie was out of earshot, his mother’s eyes narrowed and zeroed in on him. “We hear nothing from you for over a year and then we get an invitation to your wedding? We didn’t even know you were engaged! Then a house you surely can’t afford and job we knew nothing about? This is all  _ her _ fault, isn’t it! Well, don’t expect us to bail you out of trouble when this all falls apart.”

“Lyla!” admonished Peeta’s father. “That was completely unnecessary.”

Peeta reached for Katniss’s hand where it rested on his arm and brought it to his lips, before smiling down at his bride.  _ I’ve got this _ , he thought, and hoped she received the message. A quick flex of her jaw told him she had.

“If it weren’t for Katniss, you wouldn’t have received an invitation,” he told his mother. “For your information, we financed our dream house with the proceeds from all those doodles you felt were such a waste of time. There’s a gallery in the Capitol that can’t keep my work on the walls these days. I don’t tell you what’s going on in my life because, quite frankly, I don’t remember the last time your opinion meant anything to me.”

Ignoring his mother’s shocked countenance, Peeta turned to his father. “Dad, we’ll be in Paris for two weeks. If you want to chat when we get home, the phone works both ways.” 

He looked down at Katniss. “Now, I think it’s time for dance. Wouldn’t you say?” When Katniss nodded, Peeta pulled his wife out into the middle of their backyard and spun her in circles under the stars. 

* * *

 

It was late when the last guest finally left and Peeta and Katniss finally found themselves alone in their master bedroom. He carefully unbuttoned the back of her gown and pulled the pins from her hair before she slipped into the ensuite. When she emerged, she wore a simple white satin nightgown and her face was clean of make-up.

“There you are,” he smiled and then dropped to his knees. “And there you are,” he said to her belly, dropping a kiss on the nearly invisible bump. Katniss ruffled her fingers through his hair while Peeta laid his cheek against the softness. 

“Tired?” he asked, as he stood up. She often was these days.

Katniss gave a little hum and kissed him. “Not too tired for this.” 

Peeta swept her into his arms and laid her softly on their bed before crawling up beside her. He kissed her lips, her chin, laved his way to the hollow between her jaw and her ear and suckled gently, enjoying the sigh that fell from her lips. “In the spring, I’m going to paint a new picture of our meadow,” he told her, before slipping one of the nightgown’s tiny straps off her shoulder. He kissed where it had lain and then moved downward along the deep vee of the gown to the valley between what were becoming a set of rather bountiful breasts.

“You know, I liked your breasts just the way they were, but these are something else,” he mumbled, ignoring the eye roll he was sure he’d just received.

“The painting, Peeta,” Katniss reminded him. 

“Oh yeah,” he said, pushing himself up on his elbow. “Sorry, I got distracted down here. Anyway, yeah, I’m going to paint a new one. Of the three of us sitting together in the meadow. I think I’ll call it Joy.”

Katniss gave a strange little laugh. 

“What’s so funny?”

She laid her hand over her tummy. “That’s what I thought we should call her.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to @badnovels for giving us one more crack at such an amazing bonding experience for the fandom and to @xerxia31 and @peetabreadgirl for being the coolest betas a girl could ask for.


End file.
